State Senate Leader David A. Roberti has been targeted by a triad of old political enemies--abortion rights advocates, gun owners and anti-tax activists--in his toughest election fight since he first went to the Senate in 1971. One of California's most powerful liberal Democrats, Roberti is running hard in a June 2 special election against Republican Carol Rowen, a Tarzana pension consultant backed by a strange-bedfellows combination of abortion rights groups and the National Rifle Assn.

Subjecting four of Mayor Richard Riordan's choices of city commissioners to the promised "litmus test" of affirmative action, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday solicited views on the divisive issue from the appointees before unanimously confirming them all.

The routine reappointment of a Tarzana Republican to the Los Angeles Harbor Commission next week may become the next round of an increasingly contentious boxing match between Mayor Richard Riordan and the City Council. Carol L. Rowen, a former state Senate candidate who was active in the failed campaign to recall former state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), is likely to be grilled on her views of affirmative action before getting the council's nod, insiders said Wednesday.

The routine reappointment of a Tarzana Republican to the Los Angeles Harbor Commission next week may become the next round of an increasingly contentious boxing match between Mayor Richard Riordan and the City Council. Carol L. Rowen, a former state Senate candidate who was active in the failed campaign to recall former state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), is likely to be grilled on her views of affirmative action before getting the council's nod, insiders said Wednesday.

Supporters of state Senate leader David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) asked the state attorney general's office Monday to investigate whether brochures sent to voters by Roberti's Republican opponent violate a state ban on phony political endorsements. Roberti's backers called for an inquiry into two mailers sent by Carol Rowen, a Tarzana pension consultant who is battling Roberti in a June 2 special election for the San Fernando Valley Senate seat vacated by former Sen. Alan Robbins.

Carol Rowen, the Republican state Senate nominee in a Van Nuys-based district, was a campaign fund-raiser in 1985 for Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, one of the state's most visible Democrats, according to campaign reports. The records show that Rowen, a lifelong Republican, was paid $5,000 as a fund-raiser for the San Francisco Democrat's annual Los Angeles dinner. Brown uses the proceeds of his event to help fellow Democrats throughout the state win election.

As a pro-choice feminist, I am encouraged by the increased numbers of women running for office this year. But I am troubled by the apparent willingness of many feminists to be swayed by rhetoric on the issue of choice. Item: Carol Rowen, running for state Senate in the San Fernando Valley against Sen. David Roberti, claims to be pro-choice. But she is unapologetically supportive of the Reagan-Bush economic policies that have been disastrous for women. In addition, Rowen has run an ad hominem campaign against Roberti so vicious it has embarrassed even Republican legislators, who have disassociated themselves from her mailers.

The message from the voters on the propositions should not have stunned the politicians. At least not regarding Propositions 68 and 73. The voters approved Proposition 68 because there was no objection to public financing. The problem is that in Proposition 73 there were two issues which were tied together. One was supportable and one was a bitter pill. The vote on Proposition 73 was a vote to ban the transfer of campaign funds among candidates. To many of us this is more offensive than special-interest contributions.

The article on the Heimlich maneuver brought back a terrifying but wonderful memory to me of a luncheon meal in Canada. My husband and I and our two children were just starting lunch. Everyone at our table was absorbed in eating, except me. A piece of lettuce had caught in my throat and I was choking, unnoticed, at first by my dinner companions, although I was reaching and trying to grab my husband's arm. My children, who were sitting across from me, were very young and not aware of the imminent disaster.

State Senate leader David A. Roberti, seeking to defuse his anti-abortion image as he battles an abortion rights advocate in a June 2 runoff, collected endorsements Tuesday from a battery of women political leaders who praised his support for a broad range of programs benefiting women and children. Roberti picked up the endorsements amid an increasingly vitriolic race with Republican Carol Rowen, a Tarzana abortion rights activist.

Grinning with relief, state Senate Leader David A. Roberti sat in his new San Fernando Valley office Wednesday and reflected on how he dodged the Last Hurrah by spending $1.5 million and fielding an army of campaign workers to beat back a strong challenge from a Republican woman. The veteran liberal Democrat, one of California's most powerful politicians, barely survived a bitter clash with novice candidate Carol Rowen, whom he outspent almost 9 to 1. Roberti won 42.4% of the vote to Rowen's 38.

State Senate Leader David A. Roberti held a narrow but steady lead with about two-thirds of the returns counted Tuesday in his race against Republican Carol Rowen, a political novice who repeatedly attacked him for his anti-abortion views and lengthy incumbency. Roberti and the state Democratic Party poured more than $1.5 million into his drive to beat Rowen, a Tarzana pension consultant, in a special election to replace Alan Robbins in the San Fernando Valley's 20th Senate District.

State Senate leader David A. Roberti and his wife paid $33,000 in federal and state taxes on an income of $125,000 last year, including $65,000 that they earned from the sale of a rental house in the Sacramento area, according to his tax returns. His Republican opponent, Carol Rowen, declined to release her returns, saying she files jointly with her husband, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, and he refused to make the documents public.

Top-seeded Royal High will face budding power Esperanza today at 5 p.m. in the boys' Southern Section 3-A Division volleyball final at Cerritos College. Royal (21-0) is making its fourth consecutive trip to a section final. The Highlanders won 2-A titles in 1989 and '90 and lost to Harvard-Westlake in five games in the 3-A final last year. Esperanza (16-2) had not advanced past the quarterfinals before this season.

With the election to fill an open seat in the San Fernando Valley's 20th Senate District only five days away, The Times is publishing the views of the two leading candidates, Democrat David A. Roberti and Republican Carol Rowen, on significant issues. Following are their responses, edited for space. The riots Roberti said he opposes spending state money on direct aid to the riot areas, including a proposed sales-tax increase or grants to help business owners whose stores were burned down.

State Senate Leader David A. Roberti has been targeted by a triad of old political enemies--abortion rights advocates, gun owners and anti-tax activists--in his toughest election fight since he first went to the Senate in 1971. One of California's most powerful liberal Democrats, Roberti is running hard in a June 2 special election against Republican Carol Rowen, a Tarzana pension consultant backed by a strange-bedfellows combination of abortion rights groups and the National Rifle Assn.

In a highly unusual political snub, a former Republican state Senate candidate said Saturday he is endorsing Democratic Senate leader David A. Roberti instead of GOP contender Carol Rowen in their June 2 runoff battle. David Honda, a Van Nuys construction firm owner who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination in the April 7 primary, said he is not backing Rowen, a Tarzana pension consultant, because she "doesn't really understand what the issues are."

For news reporters covering the heated race between state Sen. David A. Roberti and challenger Carol Rowen, it was an intriguing press release: a demand by Roberti's camp that Rowen explain why someone with her name was a defendant in "a criminal case" in 1975. But when the smoke cleared Thursday, the case turned out to be something less than the political bombshell that Roberti implied.